'Gin Game' Gives The Civic Some Down-to-earth Quality

November 20, 1985|By Elizabeth Maupin of the Sentinel staff

The Gin Game: Lately it has seemed that spectacle has become Central Florida Civic Theatre's middle name -- that the more people who are onstage singing or juggling or turning flips, the more exciting the experience for the audience. But theater doesn't have to be splendiferous, nor does it have to be larger than life. That's why The Gin Game, the Civic's latest production, comes as such a surprise -- it's small, it's intimate, it's perceptive and it works.

Director Michael Fortner has traveled from Guys and Dolls and Barnum to the other extreme, a two-character comic drama with little plot or action and lots of talk. He and actors, Geri Mansfield and Jack Swanson, have shown themselves to be masters of this beautifully acted play in which laughter and heartache are two faces of the same beast.

Set on the rundown back porch of a nursing home, the play is the story of a series of encounters between Fonsia Dorsey and Weller Martin, two people who meet to talk and play gin. As they become friends, they find something to live for and regain a measure of self-respect. But at the same time, they face certain truths about themselves, and the revealing of those truths hurts them both.

The Gin Game will be presented at 8 p.m. today through Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday at Edyth Bush Theatre, 1010 E. Princeton St., Orlando. Tickets are $9 and $10 for adults and $7 for those under 21. They are available by calling the box office at (305) 896-7365.